Stormfiends

[Von Drak]

Hi guys,

Don't know if I can post this here, just got that info on my forum ... feel free to delete it if it's not appropriate.

What you guys think about the new Skaven unit ?

Stormfiend are montrous infantry wearing light armour
Unit size is 3+
Rare Unit
85pts per model.

each one must take a weapon listed below, but with no restrictions on how many of each or in any combination. They cost no additional points.

1)Doom-flayer gauntlets: +2 str with impact hits d3

2)Grinderfists: str5 count as magical weapons, dont roll to hit/ does d3 hits, and tunneler special rule(place marker and scatter from it-come in on a 2+ each round)

3)Ratling Cannons:18" range Str5 armour piercing, multiple shots 3d6, quick to fire, count as magical, suffer no penalties for long range or multiple shots,

4)Shock Gauntlets: +1 str and does d3 hits when making a stomp. ignore armour saves

5)Warpfire Projectors: template, str5, flaming attacks, multiple wounds d3, move or fire, quick to fire, magical weapon, on misfire does d6 hits to closest friendly unit

6)Windlaunchers: 6-24" range, plague wind (template and wounds on a 4+ with no armour save), magical weapon, scatters if misfires.

Stormfiends re-roll to wound with their weapons.

if equipped with doomflayer gauntlets or shock gauntlets, they also have warpstone-laced armour that gives them a 4+ armour save against all wounds. Any with warpstone laced armour take wounds first.

http://forofreakfactory.mforos.com/...s-ratas-ogro-fotos-nuevas-a-dia-12/#106072692

I think that vs Morghasts, we don't get a chance ...

 

[Sception]

They do look beastly, Ill admit. Cost a pretty penny, but probably worth it. Properly equipping a unit is likely to be a hassle in terms of modeling, though, since they likely only come with one of each of those weapons.

Yeah, at first glance they look more useful than morghasts, but I always thought morghasts were somewhat overpriced compared to some of the better monstrous infantry in the game (our own horrors and vargs included), so that's not exactly new, and doesn't necessarily mean these new rat ogres are too good. And if you want to field morghasts, they still bring in some utility, cool aesthetics, the option to field them as a special unit, smaller min unit size, and especially the option to summon them to the table wholecloth (if fielding arkhan or nagash) going for them.

And for what its worth, I'd imagine the ranged options will be the more popular ones on stormfiends, and morghast archai can still probably take out stormfiends one on one in melee if the latter aren't armed with their fancy melee weapons. Or even with, honestly. Especially if you can get any sort of magic support to them.

@najo - you've got a better tactical understanding of this game than I do, what are your thoughts on these Stormfiends?

 

[Seneschal]

Thanks for the info, hopefully a mod can move this topic to the right forum.

They seem underpriced if you can combine multiple upgrades at no additional cost. They have some nasty chaff clearing upgrades

Good find, Von drak

 

[Sception]

Not multiple upgrades on the same model, just in the same unit. Honestly, sticking to the same upgrade for most of them is probably better. Ratling cannons or wind launchers seem the best to me at first glance, maybe with a single drillfist in the unit for deploying behind enemy lines.

 

[Von Drak]

The ratlings are ... fu**ing awesome !!!! You can shoot than stand and shoot with them so, for exemple, a unit of 4 got 12D6 shots BS3, S5, armor peircing, magical ..., they ignore penalty for long range and multishot, reroll to wound, they have quick to fire and the worst they got free reform as they want because they have something like half skirmishers ... why not !

 

[Henning]

yeas those ratlings are immense... 4 of them will kill 5 bloodknights with the banner of bloodkeep in one volley. Oh! you have a horde of witch elves. please remove 20 in one go, you want to charge? Please remove another 14!

 

[Mr. Cthulhu]

They sound like Irondrakes on crack!

Also, looks like Skaven got bigger Maneaters...

 

[najo]

The storm fiends are mean as run and gunners. No armor though, T4. Morghasts are more well rounded overall. I think storm fiends add a dangerous unit to skaven. They will soften targets up and then can also support decently against most units. I'd treat them as a weapon team with better mobility and staying power.

The doom flayer gauntlets are awesome too. Makes them a frightening hammer on par with blood knights but way more survivable.

I'd have to study more closely to figure out if combos or other weapons are worth doing.

 

[Bullhax]

Either a unit of six with 3 ratlings and 3 storm gauntlets. Charging that unit will be horrible stand and shoot ratlings and then fighting against the T4 4+ rats that dish out 12 S6 / 3d3 S5 stomps plus supporting attacks - ouch..
Flayer flanking with a unit of 3 is very tasty too..

 

[Pirate Robot Ninja of Death]

They do have two big weaknesses though: LD7 (with no way to improve it save BSB rerolls), and no saves of any sort. Push a few wounds and force a panic check and decent chance that they're running.

 

[Bullhax]

They do have two big weaknesses though: LD7 (with no way to improve it save BSB rerolls), and no saves of any sort. Push a few wounds and force a panic check and decent chance that they're running.

They do have 4+ if you keep melee options all attacks against the unit goes to the armoured ones.. But Ld is a weak point for sure..!

 

[Woolly.Mammoth]

There's no reason to compare these units as they have very different roles. 85pts each, so were talking 255 point of entry here. That's a pretty big commitment in a horde army. All the new Skaven toys go directly against their philosophy of having a model on the table for every 10 points. Still, there are no new core units so you can still stick 250 slaves in a 2500 point list before picking out your goodies. The rule of thumb is you need at least 2 hammers, which really only include Stormvermin, Abomb and Monks. These Stormfiends add a nice option for another hammer, though I wish they were a Special choice as the Skaven special choices are very depressing and rare is packed full.

The Stormfiends are another combined range/melee unit in an army that loves to keep its tricks separate. If you get a unit of 3 you're probably paying 125 points for shooting and 125 points for melee. If you shoot all game you're wasting melee, if you're pinned down in combat you can't shoot. Alternatively, if you spent those points on slaves and cannons, you could both pin in close combat and blast with range. And for 260 points, you could have a unit of 40 slaves and two WLC.

So it seems your best bet is to kit the unit out for combat & charge toward the nearest unit as soon as possible, or kit out for standing back and blasting from range. However they seem to have anticipated this and so if you go all out on the guns, you're stuck with a 6+ save.

The Stormfiends appear to be a rat ogre that picked up a Weapon Team. A weapon team is cheap and has a 4++ ward save while next to the unit it deployed with. However, the limitation of most of these weapons is that they are Move or Fire weapons. For this reason, the poison wind mortar is by far the most popular choice, as its the only one that can move and fire. Apparently these weapons can all now move 6" and fire which makes them a lot more appealing.

The greatest appeal are those Stormfiends which have a distinct improvement over their weapon team counterpart. The Ratling Gun for example is the same as the Rattling Cannon except for a few changed; its no longer move or fire, its strength in increased to 5 and you can roll 3 dice without risking rolling a double (which would totally suck before). Now you have to kill a few slaves each time you shoot but its a much better trade off. The warpfire projectors, in contrast are exactly the same as a warpfire thrower except a misfire will kill a couple slaves instead of running into an important unit and exploding. Unfortunately it still seems to be limited by the move or fire rule.

Technically if you strapped a ratling gun on the back of a rat ogre it would cost 85 points and this is essentially what you're getting except a few notable improvements; the improved gun, as described above, along with 6+ armor save and tossing out the stupid frenzy and packmaster nonsense.

Its an interesting new unit and I think you'll start to see them replacing other rare choices such as a Doomwheel or Abomb. Gorgeous models and I'll def be picking up a box. Little disappointed however, as I was hoping that new rules were going to come out to make the awesome Island of Blood rat ogres useful, but I guess I'll just have to hope they clean them up in the next army book.

Here's another article on Stormfiends:
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/01/skaven-stormfiends-arsenal-revealed.html

 

[Pirate Robot Ninja of Death]

The ratling gun is amazing. Skaven players at my club are thinking a unit of 5 with two WLCs as their rare. An expensive unit for sure, but 5d6 S5 attacks is beastly. And BS4 means they hit on...3+? With no penalties for long range or moving? And they're quick-to-fire so can mow things down as a stand-and-shoot. Oh and they're skirmish so are basically 40K models when it comes to shooting.

As I said, the only downside is LD7. But with needing to do 8 wounds to the unit before panic you're not forcing many panic checks, and keeping them by BSB means. they have like an 84% chance of sticking around even if they do.

 

[Sception]

They look a lot better in ruddy red instead of clean cygnar blue.

 

[Bullhax]

They look a lot better in ruddy red instead of clean cygnar blue.

SO true! Just another example of how much a paitjob can change the whole feel of a model.!

The 5 man ratling unit is crazy, although that silly chest gun has to go looks aweful on an otherwise very cool model!

 

[Sception]

Undying is right on larger units of these representing a pretty major points outlay for a horde army like skaven, though. Five to 6 is super punishing, but also a major drain on Skaven's already competitive rare slots, and may even eat into points they normally would want to be spending on their tar pits and number advantages. Having a major hammer unit like this is not going to win them games if the result is an army that has neither the durability nor the numbers to take a beating, and the shooty ones do lack armor saves. Four wounds is a lot, but at only T4 & 6+ armor, they won't be able to take much negative attention aimed their way.

They strike me as good. Maybe more points efficient than Morghasts (although, again, I think our Morgs are a bit subpar in that regard), but not a problem for the game. We'll see, though.

 

[Henning]

The ratling gun is amazing. Skaven players at my club are thinking a unit of 5 with two WLCs as their rare. An expensive unit for sure, but 5d6 S5 attacks is beastly. And BS4 means they hit on...3+? With no penalties for long range or moving? And they're quick-to-fire so can mow things down as a stand-and-shoot. Oh and they're skirmish so are basically 40K models when it comes to shooting.

As I said, the only downside is LD7. But with needing to do 8 wounds to the unit before panic you're not forcing many panic checks, and keeping them by BSB means. they have like an 84% chance of sticking around even if they do.

5 rattling cannon stormfiends actually pump out 15d6 S5 AP shots not 5d6. They are BS3 though so hit on 4's normally and 5's when standing and shooting.

Another option is having a mixed unit with a tunneler in because why? because they can charge the turn they come up! That is immense